Nelsons Gin School

Hands up if you’ve dreamed of creating your own gin?

I have – a little anyway. I’m still a long way from knowing everything I think I’d need to (or want to) to be a master distiller, and a long way from my palate being as refined as I’d feel I’d need. Numbers and amounts, temperatures, tastes. 

But still. My own gin. It’s just a fantasy isn’t it?

Er no. No it’s not. There are a number of gin schools across the country now, and one of the newest (and nearest to Manchester) is just outside Stafford, in an assuming business park in Grindley.

As we’ve explored with other visits to distilleries, you don’t need a lot of room to create a gin. Caorunn has a small shed in amongst a plethora of large distillery buildings. Forest creates gin on a tiny scale – with a tabletop sized still. Batch Gin creates theirs in the cellar of a terraced house. 

And so Nelson’s Gin is crafted in a warehouse building – using Victory, a beautiful pot still from the same maker as Curiosity, the still used by Warner Edwards. 

And my is she pretty. 

Master Distiller Neil Harrison has a passion for flavour. Previously a chef, he now creates Nelson’s Gin – a gin harking back to the Admiral himself, taking flavours of kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, vanilla and juniper to create a gin that has hints of vanilla ice cream, floral citrus notes and a juniper background that is just as delicious neat, as it is with a splash of tonic – though personally I’d go for lime zest as a garnish (it brings the vanilla to the fore) rather than the recommended lemon. 

I trialled it extensively – both at the distillery, and at home afterwards.

While we sipped a little pre-distillation G&T the four of us pondered our flavour selections. I had three friends with me on the gin school visit, and had an inkling of where they would go flavour wise. Katharine has a fondness for dry, savoury flavours and so the perfect gin for a dirty Martini would be her preferred path. Keeley loves floral and fruity flavours, so that would be her own selection, whilst Steve, known for his rum love, would probably head for a similar flavour profile, with hints of vanilla and citrus. 

So for me, where was I heading?

Floral. With rose petals, lemon peel, borage, caraway, cardamom and pink peppercorns, I wanted a little spice, and soft layered floral notes. 

Neil checked our selections, added juniper, and then orris and angelica – botanicals known for their fixative properties, they’re in all the gins produced at gin school. 

We put our botanicals in our mini pot still, added neutral grain spirit at 97% and water, and turned on the heat. 

And waited.

And waited. 

The temperature needs to hit around 78ºC for the mixture to boil and the vapour to come out of the still, pass through the swan’s neck at the top of the still, before passing into the worm tub where cold water is continually circulating to cool the vapour back into liquid. 

But when it happens, it’s incredibly satisfying.

As the spirit comes off the still you check it for flavour so as to know when it’s producing suitably flavourful spirit, and to check the alcohol content. It will be high, of course, but even I raised an eyebrow at the percentage that mine came out at. 

A little warm then.

Over the course of the process you’ll find different flavours coming through predominantly as you taste the spirit – the oils in each botanical evaporate at different stages of the process. My own gin hit rose, citrus, cardamom, pink pepper, before returning to cardamom. 

The distillation slowed at different points for all of us, before the final stage and it was during this last section that the final layers of cardamom went from floral and delicious, to wishy washy and dull. More of the alcohol/solvent flavours had returned. My distillation was complete. 

As they individually finished the process, we poured them into our own bottles and added water, before testing for our final ABV. 

Mine had returned to a respectable 44.3%, whereas we had a Navy Strength gin at 57% (named so because if the gunpowder on ship were accidentally soaked in it, it would still light), and a, well we called it a Navy SEAL strength gin, as it was somewhere in the 70s. 

OK, I’m not a master distiller – nor am I sure I would want to be – but the idea of making my own gin, no longer fills me with utter terror. 

How does it taste? Good actually. I’d like more of a juniper backbone, so perhaps if I were to distill these botanicals again, I’d add a little more juniper, but with lime peel and a light tonic (again, Mr GFB and I have trialled this rather extensively) I was a very happy lady. 

If you’re a gin lover, or know one, this would be a fantastic gift – Gin School runs from 10am to 3pm, lunch is included and you get to take home a bottle of your own gin. You can also request another bottle for the same price as ordering a bottle of Nelson’s. Both of which I’d highly recommend.

Oh and the price? £95. Bargain. 

I know what I’ll be asking for for Christmas. I’m like a toddler on a swing. 

Again, again!

With thanks to Nelson’s Distillery! This day of Gin School for all four attendees was the result of a Facebook competition.